


When The Sky Falls Away

by Scoobycool9



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: AU where Freddy and Billy get the powers but Billy's don't initally work, Other, Suicidal Billy Batson, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scoobycool9/pseuds/Scoobycool9
Summary: Carnivals are not fun.





	1. Unworthy

**When The Sky Falls Away**

**Chapter 1: Unworthy**

Billy Batson stood on the edge of the roof. Everything hurt so much and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be alive anymore. He had found his mom, but it had came at the great cost of abandoning his new family. This wouldn’t have hadn’t been such a big deal expect he had made that stupid promise with Freddy.

 _I’ll help you with your caped crusader stuff in exchange for helping to finding my mom. Once I find her, we’re done with each other_. The words had seen so simple back then. After all, his mom had to have abandoned him by accident. It wasn’t like she had purposely left him at the carnival and abandoned him. Expect she had done just that.

After one look of him with someone else, she decided he would have had a better life without her. A better life was the last thing he had gotten when she had abandoned him. He had grown obsessed with finding her. And it wasn’t like he had any choices left. He had abandoned the family that had taken him in. The ones who had loved him. He was an idiot, a fool, chasing after a dream that wasn’t real.

And today, on this day, he felt his beautiful sky away. Freddy wouldn’t want to be involved with him. What hero wanted to help someone who had hurt them? Yeah, he had helped with his training, but he hadn’t need too. He had did it for all the wrong reasons. And he had ran away from the rest of the family. Nobody cared about him.  
  
And it wasn’t like he could just go live with his dad, the person who he hadn’t even considered before today. The man was in his jail. He wasn’t sure what for- but he had to wonder if evil ran in his genes. His dad was a criminal, his mom was an abandoner. What hope was there that he, Billy Batson was going to be better than him? What if he just followed in their footsteps? Hell, he could see now. He pushed everyone who cared about him away.  
  
Darla who had hugged him on the first day and who he had bitterly pushed off. He hadn’t even gotten to know Mary, Pedro and Eugene, Maybe in another lifetime, he would have been worthy of the powers that the wizard had tried to give him and Freddy. A shared burden. . But in this one, he was nothing more than a worthless nobody who didn’t deserve love. And that was okay. Wouldn’t the world be a better place without one less needy angsty teenager who in it? He certainly thought so, as he took one soft and subtle step forward. After all, if his own mother didn’t even want him, then who in the world would? He took another step forward, dancing on the edge, one foot forward and one back. Without hesitation, he took another step and leaped forward. It was better this way. 

* * *

Freddy wished he hadn’t made that stupid promise to Billy. He had wanted to tell him that he was still worth something to him, but he had ran out and he couldn’t just shazam in front of his family. The only one who even knew his secret was Darla and even though Mary had just figured it out and told the others, he was more focused on Billy. What happened if his mother wasn’t what he hoped for?  
  
“ I’ll tell you all about everything after I go after Billy. You said that his mom was two train stops away, right?” He asked Eugene. It seemed that the boy nodded and he grabbed his crutch and limped to the train station. He wasn’t sure how long he would have to catch, he hoped that it was enough time.  
  
After all he was a safe distance, Freddy would duck into an alleyway and yelled “ SHAZAM” rushing off to the direction where the apartment was. He stared, relieved that he had gotten there before he had confronted his mother. But then he saw it. Billy on the edge of the roof of the apartment, one foot in and out. Maybe he was trying to become Shazam and copying Freddy. Yeah,, maybe he realized he was just as worthy of the power and would scream Shazam and become the hero he knew that he could be.  
  
Expect no words came out of Billy’s mouth. He leapt forward. And then, he realized what Billy was trying to do. He was trying to commit suicide. Oh god, he couldn’t see what had been so obvious to both the Wizard and Freddy. That he was worth something. That he was someone who was loved and deserved it. On instinct, he would fly up and catch Billy, being careful to not hurt him with his strength.   
  
He felt his warm tears rub against his blue superhero suit. “ Why do you stop me? She didn’t want me- Freddy, she doesn’t want me. My mom abandoned me for her freedom. I’m not fucking worthy of anything. I know that you can see something- but it’s not there. It’s not.” Freddy knew that he was venting to him so he let him. But he didn’t let him go.  
  
Though Billy couldn’t see it, he couldn’t know how much he loved him. How much he saw him as a person who was equal to him. Who deserved love. Who deserved a family. “ Billy, you have always been worthy- I don’t know why you can’t see that- but know that I will always save you. I’m not going to let you kill you. You’re worth more than you ever fucking know man, you’re the best thing in my life.”  
  
Freddy wouldn’t know what he would do with Billy, but he knew this. If he had died, he would have felt that his sky would have fallen away. Freddy would carry Billy back home and when he arrived, he felt something was wrong. The house was trashed and all that was there was a note ‘ I took your family. You and the Batson kid, come to the carnival, it ends today.’  
  
And with that note, Freddy couldn’t help but feel that the sky was going to fall away soon- one way or another.


	2. SHAZAM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carnivals are not fun.

Chapter 2: SHAZAM 

Freddy had never been a big fan of the carnival. Even before he knew Billy Batson and knew his story about being abandoned at a carnival, he had found the place to be terrible. The food was never very good and the prizes were always impossible to win. And if it wasn’t that, it was the fact that being disabled made it harder to traverse the carnival. Sure, when he was younger, he could be placed on top of someone’s shoulders, but the older he got, the harder it was to enjoy it as much as when he was a kid. So, the fact that the mad doctor had took his family here was terrible. 

“I’m assuming that the mad doctor wants me to give the power to him. I don’t think he knows that you have the power as well, Billy,” he said, as he carried the younger man. Billy had been so quiet on the way here and it unnerved him. The fact that he didn’t want to even talk about the fact that he had tried to kill himself after finding his mother just made Freddy more upset. 

Of course, he hid the tears from him. The last thing he wanted to do was trigger the younger man. God, he wished he could see show Billy how great he was, how awesome he was. How worthy he was of the powers the wizard had granted both of them the powers. He would land on the ground, looking at the carnival and bit down on his tongue. 

There were so many people here- and for once in his life, he didn’t have a plan. Well, at least not one that wouldn’t end in disaster. He would watch Billy, making sure he wouldn’t run away from him. God, he wished he knew what was going on in the other teen’s hand. He would slide his hand and guide Billy towards the open tent. 

“It’s so good to see that you all made it to our little gathering, I was worried that you wouldn’t show up, even after I took your family. All I want is for you to give me the powers from the staff and I will leave you and your family away.” 

It was at that moment; Freddy got the idea. The awful terrible idea that he wasn’t sure would work. He would grab the staff and look like he was about to say the word, before he would fly and drop kick the man. “I think I got him down for now, everyone put your name on the staff and say my name, you too Billy. Maybe that initial power burst didn’t work, but I know that you are worthy of this power.” He waited for everyone to put their hand on the staff. 

“FREDDY,” they all shouted. Even Billy. Oh, he knew that he had done that on fucking purpose, 

“No, not my name, the name I use to turn into this guy,” he said. 

“SHAZAM.” Freddy didn’t get a chance to see if it worked thankfully only loosely gripping the staff as the mad doctor had charged at him and flew up in the air with him. 

 

\-----------------------------------------------  
Billy Batson stared at his siblings, or rather their Shazam forms. Mary seemed to look the same, but was wearing a red skirt and suit. Darla had to be at least a good foot tall and was wearing a purple suit similar to Freddy. Eugene was at least a foot and a half taller and seemed so happy in his grey suit. Though silent, Pedro was feeling the facial hair and muscles he had grown in his green suit. They all deserved to be Shazam. They were all so much better than he was, so much more supportive of Freddy and deserving. 

He knew that he wasn’t in his Shazam form as each one towered over him or at least looked more developed, even if it was only temporary. He knew what his place was and it was just to be a supporting character. Someone who came in to help the heroes not die and then sacrifice himself in the process. He knew his role; he wasn’t anybody’s hero. “Guys, watch out, it looks like the evil doctor released the sins,” he said. There were at least five of them and he realized he was holding the staff and they were all eyeing him. Well, fuck, that was a bad thing. 

Billy ran as fast as his normal human speed could carry, thankful as it seemed that Mary, Eugene, Pedro and Darla each took on one of the sins. Oh god, wait, there was a fifth one. This was bad. So bad. He couldn’t think of anything possibly worse happening, until the mad doctor came down and grabbed him and flew him into the sky. 

“Oh, Shazam, I got your little boyfriend here and the staff. You better give me the powers or he’s about to make a thirty-” Billy could see that Freddy was actually way off. 

“I really hate to interrupt your speech, it’s a great villain monologue and all, but seeing as I helped him test the powers, I should let you know, super hearing is not one of the powers he has. You’re like a good five miles away from him and he has no clue what you’re saying. Just trying to be helpful.” 

The mad doctor would move closer, being a few feet apart from Freddy now. “As I was saying, Shazam, I got your little boyfriend-” 

“Brother, he’s my brother-” Freddy said, interrupting and correcting the mad doctor. Billy could see the look of fear in Freddy’s eyes 

“I got your little-’ 

“We’re actually the same age-” 

“I got your shorter-” 

“He’s actually taller-” 

“I got your brother here and the staff. You better give me the powers or he’s about to make a thirty-” 

“We’re 300 feet in the air.” 

“A three-hundred-foot drop to the ground.” Freddy would charge and would grab the staff, but not before the mad doctor dropped Billy and held Freddy with his other hand. And then Billy started to fall. Billy knew he was going to die. 

Three hundred feet down- down. He didn’t think this would work. He didn’t believe he was worthy, but it was now or never. Maybe he was worthy- maybe the sky wouldn’t fall away. Despite every fiber of him not believing that it would work and that he was doomed, he would shout to the skies, the one word that he never believed he would utter with any sort of belief. “SHAZAM.”


End file.
